It is my great pleasure and honor to write my first IEEE WIE Chair’s message. I am thrilled to serve as the 2017 Global Chair of the IEEE Women in Engineering Committee. I have been involved in this committee for more than 10 years; initially as the IEEE CSS liaison and for the last two years as a voting member of the WIEC.

I have become passionate and enthusiastic about the progress and visibility of IEEE WIE. Past chairs have done an amazing job. Our IEEE WIE staff members are fantastic and our MGA leaders are remarkable! Let me introduce myself. I am proud of being a Polish mathematician, statistician, an economist, and a stochastic control researcher; and, as such, I am an adopted engineer.

I received a M.S. degree in Mathematics (1970) from the University of Warsaw, and Ph.D. (1978) and D.Sc. (Habilitation) (1986) degrees from the Warsaw School of Economics, Poland. Before joining the University of Kansas (KU) in 1984, I was a faculty member of the Department of Mathematics at Warsaw School of Economics. At KU, I am a Professor of Mathematics; a Courtesy Professor of the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Aerospace Engineering; Investigator at the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center; and, I am affiliated with the Computational Biology Center. I am very proud to be a Chancellors Club Teaching Professor and a member of the KU Women’s Hall of Fame.

I have been committed throughout my career to integrating Research and Education. I believe that Education is a collaborative effort of integrating research, scholarship, teaching and learning, both horizontally and vertically. I initiated and direct the workshops (since 2000) for high school students and their teachers of Math and Science to increase awareness of the importance of systems, control and technology in everyday life. I am a founder of Women in Control, first chair of IEEE CSS Standing Committee on Women in Control, and founder of the KU Student Chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics, Math Awareness Month/Outreach Program, and a Stochastic Adaptive Control Seminar.

As my mother had reminded me frequently that I was born to be a teacher and to help others, I love teaching and I love helping others! I always say that KU students made me happy in USA. I met my husband at a Control Conference

in Poland. He is an American, and he is an engineer and mathematician, and my colleague at KU.. I fell in love and moved to the USA, and became a happy mother. My daughter is 32, she is a mathematician and engineer, and an assistant professor of Neurology at USC. I am passionate about balancing in different cultures, and I am passionate about building communities. I started one at home. My husband, my daughter and I we are engineers and scientists. We do different things, and we enjoy exchanging our ideas.

I love volunteering work. I had worked as a volunteer with 17 gifted program students at the local elementary school. I taught algebra and probability using Polish, French and American books. My students won every math competition

in problem solving, and I learned about the American education system. My elementary school students became my life time friends and made me the proudest person on the Earth. I became an active member in my beloved Control Systems Society. Women in Control make me feel so proud. They are remarkable scholars and leaders.

I have served in many capacities in several societies including IEEE CSS Vice President, three-term IEEE CSS Board of Governors member, and two-term Program Director of SIAM Activity Group on Systems Theory and Control. My current service includes Deputy Chair of the CSS TC on Control Education, Chair of the AACC Education Committee, member of IFAC TB as the Education Liaison, a voting member of the IEEE WIE Committee, member of IEEE SSIT Board of Governors, member of the IEEE CSS Board of Governors, and a member of the SIAM Activity Group on Systems Theory and Control Conference Steering Committee. My research interests are primarily in stochastic systems, stochastic adaptive control and STEM education.

I am very proud to be recognized as a Fellow of IEEE (2001), a Fellow of IFAC (2013), a recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal (2000), IEEE CSS Distinguished Member Award (2000), and a recipient of the 2016 IEEE EAB Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education for promoting control systems and STEM education.

I am thrilled to serve as the 2017 Global Chair of the IEEE Women in Engineering Committee. I have been involved in this committee for more than 10 years; initially as the IEEE CSS liaison, and for the last two years as a voting member of the WIEC.

I have become passionate and enthusiastic about the visibility in IEEE WIE and the progress it has made. Past chairs have done amazing job. Staff members are remarkable. I have terrific plans for us. I believe in working together to

make a change in increasing visibility and in recognizing women. I plan to involve societies’ liaisons and region coordinators in identifying and nominating women from their societies and their regions. It is important to have the list

of nominees for different positions and awards including the highest technical awards. With help of all others I would like to establish by nominations a Speakers Bureau so those who are seeking female speakers for the conferences

or workshops will have a choice. I want us to communicate frequently so we will have Monthly E-Communication. I will promote IEEE WIE workshops or panel and discussion sessions at every major conference of every technical society.

I made friends with and commitment to collaborate with Young Professionals and with students. I want to build a strong partnership between academia and industry. I plan to visit every region. I visited region 10 twice and region 7 and 8

last fall, and I am on the way to region 9 next week.

I would love to meet every member of IEEE WIE this year, and I would like to invite you to join me on our important goals to increase membership of women in IEEE. Our IEEE President started her presentation last January with the statement that IEEE, the world’s largest technology organization has only 12% women. Join me to make a change. The strength that comes from working together as a community makes me believe that we can make a change.

I enthusiastically and passionately look forward to working with you all and to serving you in coming months. I also look forward to seeing many of you at the 2017 IEEE WIE in person meeting on April 8-9 in Warsaw, Poland, and at the 2017 IEEE WIE ILC on May 22-24 in San Jose, California.

I send my very best wishes to every member of IEEE WIE,

Bozenna Pasik-Duncan